This invention relates to the field of gears and gear train configurations, and more particularly, to a magnetic gear and magnetic gear train.
Various mechanisms and machines commonly require gears in order to function as intended. However, gears commonly contain teeth which mesh with the teeth of other gears in order to impart rotation to one another. These types of gears, although suitable for high torque applications, exhibit substantial frictional forces between meshing teeth and are prone to wear and breakage. Moreover, conventional gears must be manufactured to exact precision and high tolerances in order to avoid slippage and transmission errors. Furthermore, excessive torque applied to a gear may often result in the gear teeth becoming broken or sheared due to the excessive force applied thereto and the inability of these gears to alleviate such forces. Typically, a shear pin or similar device is connected to the shaft of the gear to prevent damage to the mechanism due to excessive torque.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a gear and gear train which may operate without the use of gear teeth.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a gear and gear train which is particularly suitable for low torque transmission.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a gear and gear train which minimizes the effect of frictional forces therebetween but which allows slippage between gears to occur without damage to the gears when the torque applied to one or more of the gears reaches a threshold level.